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The scheme of track obliteration worked well. Reconnaissance planes reported next day that no tracks were visible. Our crews were not worn out by wearisome and inefficient spade work through hours of darkness.
‘Taisez-vous! Mefiez-vous! Les oreilles ennemies vous écoutent!‘ The legend on the platform at Étaples was the French injunction to their civilian population – absolute secrecy! But absolute! … The din of the silence seemed to swell into a row. Who the hell cared anyway? We had heard it all before. The sky was cloudy and overcast. Enemy planes must have seen it – whatever it was.
No, only one plane had been over and that had been shot down. Our planes had orders to shoot down any enemy plane – without fail. Absolutely without fail.
So they got it? No, it was fetched down by AA fire.
It was too tiring even to bother to call the man who told us that a liar.
It was August; since it was a Great British Offensive it seemed reasonable to suppose it would rain like hell. So it was not altogether implausible that the cloud screen was so thick that air observation was difficult. But, only one enemy plane over! And that shot down by the gunners! If it weren't so bloody silly one might even laugh.
We could see we were at a very big marshalling yard. AMIENS it said. It was the morning of August 6th. “Tell one of your officers to get your tanks off; you are to take cover at once. The guides are there. We” – it was Cook speaking – “must go to Brigade HQ at once for the conference.”
It was a large tent, full of officers; they were all Tank Corps. Whatever
kind of show required the whole Tank Corps in support? “They must be arranging to end the war”, said Hauser sarcastically.
Silence fell on us. The General was speaking. “On your left, extending as far as Villers Bretonneux, will be the Australian Corps.”
Christ! Those bastards! We did not love the Australians. There had been a local attack, which was a failure, in which tanks had taken an even worse beating than usual because the